If you think of learning as simply sitting in your seat, the JUMP! Foundation will change your mind. For JUMP!, all the world’s a classroom. To learn from it, you have to do more than write notes and takes tests.
“The JUMP! Foundation is based on the idea of experiential education, which is why it has gained considerable interest in international schools,” explains Carson Townsend, Partnership Development & Marcomms Manager. “Our program promotes the idea that kids learn and benefit from being out of the classroom. Learning to be a contributing member to one’s community and developing a broader conscience as a global citizen both play a key role in unlocking these lessons.”
With a regional office in Bangkok, as well as offices in Beijing and Melbourne, JUMP! has gone global in its reach. The programs take place in all types of environments, from school gyms to the great outdoors to various adventurous urban settings, all with the goal of broadening students’ horizons.
In schools, JUMP! programmes offer a host of educational activities that range from the physical and analytical to the entrepreneurial. J!Schools are popular in-school one to three day workshops and J!Experiences are 1 to 6 week out of school trips, both focusing on personal and community development, leadership skills, and global citizenship education. Events like Community Day compel participants to consider the definition of a community and how they can collectively better their own through different teamwork activities. A J!Experience trip may include going to Battambang, Cambodia, for a week and practicing various responsible social enterprise models. Exploring these questions teaches students about practicing respect and compassion in the context of pluralism.
The workshops are not only limited to students. For example, the JUMP! Educator Global Citizenship Workshop instructs educators on how to develop good and responsible global citizens in their own classrooms.
At NIST International School, JUMP! maintains a Global Leadership Center, bringing together youth, facilitators, educators and social entrepreneurs in South East Asia. The Center promotes and provide resources in experiential education, professional development, youth empowerment, community building, and global issues and education – tasks aligned with the school, including it’s IB service component or CAS, a collaborative project that challenges students to show initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and develop cooperation, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Carson says, “We’ve had great success at NIST and in other international schools in Bangkok. The students have been amazing, showing great initiative and creativity – and along the way, they are developing their people and other soft skills, and defining their roles as global citizens, which will benefit them in the real world.”
As a social enterprise, JUMP! dedicates surplus generated from its programs to the JUMP! Development Fund. Through this fund, JUMP! actively supports youth development in China, Kenya, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Thailand.
To date, over 15,000 participants have passed through the JUMP! Foundation’s programs, attesting to its success. It goes to show that learning involves a leap, which starts with getting out of one’s seat.
For more information on getting JUMP! to run programs at your school, contact [email protected]. And for more information on JUMP! Development, contact [email protected].
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